thoughts on life, writing, geekdom, music, and stories

Tag: reading

I was going to make some kind of remark like “wow, the month went by really fast!” before I remembered that February is in fact the shortest month of the year so of course it went by fast. Anyway, even though it was short, February was a good month with a lot of cool stuff happening.

Before I get into that though, if you missed any of my blog posts this month, I blogged about…

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Look, I didn’t want to be a blogger… alright who am I kidding, of course I did. But if you’ve ever read the Percy Jackson & the Olympians series by Rick Riordan, that opening line might look familiar.

I recently re-read The Lightning Thief, the first book in the series, and I just saw the musical adaptation of the novel (which you should definitely check out if you have the chance), so I figured now was a good time to present to you the alphabet, according to the Percy Jackson series.

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Congratulations on making it through the first month of the year! I don’t know about you, but January seemed to go by fast for me… which I can’t say I’m feeling too upset about, since it’s been bitter cold here in Pennsylvania for most of the month. Despite the below-freezing temperatures though, I had a great month!

Before I share all of that though, here’s what I blogged about this month in case you missed it:

What I want to accomplish in 2019 (and what I did in 2018)

Cleaning a bunch of books off of my to-be-read list (in two parts!)

What we can learn about writing from Avatar: The Last Airbender

By the way, I’m also back to doing my 1 Second Everyday videos! You can watch January’s compilation below:

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It’s interesting to see how my reading tastes have changed over the years. There have been times when it felt like I was reading the same books and genres over and over again, but as I look back on the books I added to my TBR when I was in middle school and high school, I can see the difference time has had.

Continuing with last week, I’m rounding out my TBR purge with nine more books. Who will survive, and who gets cut? Make sure you’re all caught up on Part 1, then read on for more!

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Two years ago, I took a look at my “To-be-read” (TBR) list on GoodReads and decided it needed some cleaning up. I picked out a handful of books from the list (well, a little more than that, since I split it into two posts) and decided to give them another look. Of those 14 books, only 5 survived the purge, and I ended up reading 3 of those 5 shortly after.

I looked at my TBR list again this year, and realized it might be time for another purge. There’s a lot of books still on there that I added nearly 6 (!) years ago, and I’m different person now than I was when I was 14-15.

Without further ado, The Great TBR Purge of 2019 (Part 1, because I have a lot of books to cover this time)

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Before I start, I think we should all just give ourselves a pat on the back for making it to the end of the year. Whether 2018 was the best year or the worst year of your life, finishing another calendar year is really something to be proud of.

As I do every year, I’m wrapping up 2018 with a look back at my favorite music, books, video games, blog posts, and other moments that made the year special. I do my best to keep it brief, but let’s face it… there’s a lot of great things to be thankful for.

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Plagiarism? No, worse than that – I admitted that I haven’t read the Harry Potter series.

You would think from the scandalized gasps that I’d just admitted to first-degree murder, but that was not the case. Nope, I just haven’t read one of the most beloved fantasy series of all time.

Now, granted, I did pick up the first few books in my late teens, but I never finished the series due to (buckle your seatbelts) a lack of interest. That has actually been my reason for avoiding them all along – my parents never told me I wasn’t allowed to read the books, which might have been a more acceptable excuse at my religious college. No, the reason I didn’t read Harry Potter was because I didn’t want to.

You might be wondering, why didn’t I want to? I’ve always loved reading, and I don’t have anything against fantasy novels. Why didn’t I devour the Harry Potter series like the rest of my peers?

The answer is right there: everyone else was doing it, and therefore, I didn’t want to.

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Full disclosure – I renamed this tag because apparently it was originally called the “You’re Not Good Enough Book Tag.” That title felt a little misleading, because honestly, this is all about characters fighting each other. Figuratively, at least.

This tag was originally created by Booktubers ReadLikeWildfire and Beccathebookreviewer, but the video is no longer available. I actually found it through another blogger, Dreamland Book Blog. The rules are simple: There are 15 questions (well, 14 in my version – I cut one out), you write various character names on slips of paper and draw names for each question. You have to pick between these two characters for each question and decide which one is better for the question.

To be honest, it’s kind of hard to explain, so I’m just gonna get into the questions!

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Happy October! Depending on where you are in the world, it might finally be starting to feel like autumn for you (yes, we had 80-degree days here in the middle of September). Midterm exams are coming up at my school, but I’ll be going home for Fall Break in less than a week! I’m looking forward to it.

And in case you missed anything on Maggie’s Musings this month, I blogged about:

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If you’re a student, chances are you’ve already begun your classes or if not, you will be soon. It’s that time of year again – new textbooks, new teachers and professors, and a mountain of assignments. Regardless of whether or not you like school, the first few days and weeks of classes can be overwhelming at times. For a lot of us, it’s hard to find time to breathe, let alone sit down and read a book for fun.

Personally, when I do find those moments of freedom, it’s hard to decide what to do with them. Even if I want to read, then I have to pick what book to read, and sometimes I can’t find the right book… it’s frustrating.

To save you the time and trouble of looking for the “right book” to read in your snippets of free time, I’ve compiled a short list of good “back to school” books. Now let’s be clear, there are a lot of Young Adult books that have schools in them. In these books, however, the school environment plays an important role. Whether they’re a college student or just starting fifth grade, perhaps you’ll be able to relate to these characters and their stories.